🚨 Klopp rages at TNT Sports, Poch's anger, Reus' Dortmund goodbye, West Ham's Lopetegui talks, Clattenburg resigns & more
🚨 Klopp rages at TNT Sports, Poch's anger, Reus' Dortmund goodbye, West Ham's Lopetegui talks, Clattenburg resigns & more
Today's round-up, featuring Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City, Man United and more...
Good morning everyone and welcome to another Daily Briefing - thanks as always for reading, and hope you enjoy!
Today’s top stories:
🎧 LISTEN: The Debrief Podcast - What will Arne Slot bring to Liverpool?
Plus more on Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and West Ham
Arsenal
Christian Falk breaks down what needs to happen in order for Arsenal to land Joshua Zirkzee from Bologna.
Arteta: “Jurrien Timber is 100% back and available. We have the entire squad fit and ready.”
Arteta confirms: “We want Jorginho to stay with us and he’s aware of our desire, our plan. I would love to keep him. He knows that. The club is fully supportive of that so we hope to continue with Jorgi.”
Arteta: “I don’t know where reports about Gabriel Jesus exit are coming from. We have NO intention of letting Gabriel leave.”
Mikel Arteta reacted to the question of where Arsenal could be if both Thomas Partey and Jurrien Timber had played more games this season [pictures from Sky Sports]:
Arsenal GK David Raya has won the 2023/24 Premier League Golden Glove award. Excellent signing last summer, strongly wanted by Edu, Mikel Arteta and his staff.
Aston Villa
Unai Emery wants to bring a Barcelona target to Villa Park, and Matteo Moretto has more exclusive information on the deal.
Barcelona
The futures of both Vitor Roque and Robert Lewandowski could be up for discussion this summer, and for differing reasons. Matteo Moretto has another brilliant exclusive.
Xavi confirms Eric Garcia will return to Barcelona [Football Espana]
Bayern Munich
Thomas Tuchel on the chances of him changing his mind like Xavi: “We have an existing contract and have agreed that we will terminate it earlier. 𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚, but the answer is the same. The agreement stands. The agreement exists.”
Bologna
Thiago Motta: “Staying as Xabi Alonso did? Xabi had his own reasons. My future is not important now. I’m focused on the final games. We will discuss at the right moment whether we want to continue together or not. I’ll always hope for the best for Bologna.”
Borussia Dortmund
Marco Reus has decided to leave Borussia Dortmund as a free agent after 12 years at the club. Reus’ contract, due to expire in June 2024, won’t be extended.
Brighton and Hove Albion
Roberto de Zerbi: “I would like to stay at Brighton because I love my players, the city, my club and my fans. I already told the fans in a meeting that if I’m happy, I’m not going to leave this club, I want to keep my passion.”
Chelsea
Pochettino: "Noni Madueke, unbelievable. He did a fantastic job with the ball and without the ball. That is what we needed for the future to build this spirit, to be very competitive. Trevoh Chalobah and Conor Gallagher were fantastic as players that grew in this club.”
Si Phillips isn’t at all happy that Mauricio Pochettino continues to patronise fans.
Hansi Flick has his eye on the Chelsea job, and Christian Falk talks us through what needs to happen for the German to pitch up at Stamford Bridge.
Pochettino on his future: “I’ve had enough of these stupid rumours. You need to ask the club, whether the club wants me to keep going or not. If I have one more year on my contract here and no one says anything, then I suppose that I am going to be here. If there's a decision and someone says to me 'ciao', okay. But we don't know at the moment.”
Fluminense are set to sign Thiago Silva as a free agent. Verbal agreement in place between parties. Contracts are being prepared and plan is to get it signed in the next few weeks. Deal will be valid until June 2026. Here we go, coming soon.
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Euro 2024
OFFICIAL: The maximum squad size for EURO 2024 teams has now been increased from 23 to 26 players.
Leicester City
Leicester City have triggered the €17m buy option clause for Abdul Fatawu, Sporting confirms. "We will make money. Talented players who don't adapt here will move to other clubs and give us added value, it's our system," says Ruben Amorim.
Liverpool
Arne Slot wouldn’t comment officially on whether he was taking over at Liverpool despite dropping big hints he hoped that would be the case [pictures from Sky Sports]:
Klopp on Salah: “It's completely resolved, no problem between us. If we didn't know each other that long, I'm not sure how we'd deal with it but we respect each other so it's really no problem. We are absolutely fine with it, so let’s move on.”
Jurgen Klopp was clearly unhappy with TNT Sports after launching into a three-minute rant about the broadcaster during his press conference, a snippet of which is here [pictures from Hayters]:
Klopp on 12.30pm kick-offs: "Thursday, Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday 12.30pm is a crime. I was expecting Amnesty International to be involved."
Klopp on Salah future with Liverpool keen on keeping him: "It's not my subject anymore. I don't think I should speak about it, others will decide that, especially Mo. Those decisions will be made by other people."
Michael Edwards urged to ‘get it right’ at Liverpool [Stan Collymore]
Luton Town
Despite playing well for the most part against Everton, Luton once again couldn’t get the win which would’ve taken them out of the bottom three. Elijah Adebayo gave the home crowd something to cheer in the 1-1 draw, with this brilliant finish [pictures from Sky Sports]:
Manchester City
Pep Guardiola was a man of few words when offering Phil Foden congratulations for winning the Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year award [pictures from Sky Sports]:
Jack Grealish warns Arsenal as Man City edge closer to another title [Sky Sports]
Manchester United
Ten Hag: "I'm now going into my fifth window at Man United. We had two windows quite okay, two we missed, we have to make new improvements to the squad. There is a base of this squad that is very good."
Ten Hag confirms he wanted Harry Kane: “Yes, you know Kane will get you 30 goals. He’s a striker who already proved it, who we wanted to sign and we couldn't get him. So we went for Rasmus Højlund. He’s a big talent. Rasmus will get there [30 goals], but he needs time.”
Ten Hag: “With Højlund, I think we had the biggest potential in the striker position last summer and we are very happy with him, but he also needs time to adapt and we are very pleased he showed his assets in scoring goals.”
Ten Hag on United plans: "Initial meetings are good… now we have to take things quickly because the summer is coming. We want to make the next step into our squad and make plans to create an environment that avoids this year's problems in injuries.”
Erik ten Hag has been strongly linked with a move to Bayern Munich. Christian Falk has a huge deep dive on the current and up-to-date situation.
Thomas Tuchel would love to take the hot-seat at Old Trafford, and Christian Falk has the lowdown on whether that will be possible.
Erik ten Hag confirms he wanted Frenkie de Jong to join United in 2022: "Yes, it would have been de Jong and Casemiro playing and complementing each other. But in the last decade and in this period, we couldn't always get the players we wanted. You have to accept that."
Ten Hag: "This club can only have outstanding players because the expectations are so high. Man United is the biggest, or maybe second/third, biggest club in the world, highest fanbase so expectations will always be there. We can only have outstanding players.”
Ten Hag: “I assume that I will be Manchester United manager next year. I signed a long term deal consciously and I am not a person who walks away. Contacts with Ajax? No. In the future, why not? It’s a fascinating club, I had a great time there.”
Two European giants planning to move for Mason Greenwood [CaughtOffside]
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Newcastle United
Eddie Howe: “Fabian Schar will miss a period of time with a hamstring problem. He won’t be available on Saturday and I doubt we’ll see him again this season.”
24-year-old Premier League star not convinced by a move to Newcastle [Geordie Boot Boys]
Nottingham Forest
Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg has resigned from his consultancy role at Nottingham Forest with immediate effect.
Nottingham Forest could sue Sky Sports over Gary Neville’s ‘mafia gang’ comment [Daily Mail]
RB Salzburg
Oumar Solet has concrete chances to leave RB Salzburg in the summer transfer window with his deal due to expire in June 2025. Understand price tag could be around €15m to let him leave and several clubs interested.
Real Madrid
Real Madrid have already made contact with River Plate to ask for Franco Mastantuono as they really appreciate the Argentinian midfielder. Real scouts believe he could be another gem similar to Fede Valverde who also joined from South America.
After his ACL and then meniscus injury, Thibaut Courtois will be back in Real Madrid’s starting XI vs Cadiz. “Courtois will play, Lunin will play vs Bayern on Wednesday,” Carlo Ancelotti confirmed.
Ancelotti also noted that he’ll give more minutes to Arda Güler: “Yes, he will be in the starting XI again.”
Matteo Moretto exclusively reveals the truth behind rumours linking Dani Ceballos with Atlético Madrid.
Nacho will leave Real Madrid as a free agent at the end of the current season, as expected.
Carlo Ancelotti promises an improved Jude Bellingham [Football Espana]
Royal Antwerp
Mark van Bommel is set to leave Royal Antwerp at the end of the current season. Decision to be communicated in the next days but he’s prepared to try a new chapter after winning several titles at Royal Antwerp.
Saudi Pro League
Gennaro Gattuso has been approached by a Saudi Pro League club with a formal proposal to follow. Gattuso, on Torino’s shortlist as potential new head coach since February but now also has a Saudi option on the table.
Tottenham Hotspur
Ahead of Spurs’ game against Liverpool, Ange Postecoglou paid tribute to Jurgen Klopp whilst also suggesting that his players need to feel the pain of recent defeats in order to motivate themselves in future [pictures from Hayters]:
Postecoglou: “We need change. Change has to happen. I’ve got to change this squad, I have to. I’ve got to build a squad I think can play our football. For that to happen, there have to be exits. We’re going to play and train a certain way… that’s not for everyone.”
Postecoglou on winning titles: "For a club like Tottenham, wherever you think you are in your rebuilding cycle, you have to try and win something every year. That’s part of the responsibility. I can’t sit here and say we’re going to finish fourth, fifth, sixth and then in the third of fourth year we’re going to win something. I’m not built that way. I want to win things all the time. We start next year trying to have success. But the underlying thing is growth. We’ve got to have growth."
Christian Falk has more on the difficult situation facing Timo Werner this summer.
Venezia
Former Bayern midfielder Mickaël Cuisance, set to leave Venezia in the summer transfer window at the end of his loan to Osnabrück this season. Cuisance, ready for a new chapter.
West Ham United
Michail Antonio had some very strong words to say about VAR, which every football supporter will probably agree with [pictures from Sky Sports]:
West Ham are still expected to part ways with David Moyes at the end of the season, the plan remains clear. The Hammers are in direct talks with Julen Lopetegui after the deal to take him to AC Milan collapsed in the recent days. He’s not the only candidate on the shortlist; discussions are taking place.
West Ham agree to sell striker in bargain deal [Football Insider]